programming or system administration

What is more suited to a person with a web developer background. I am a web developer turned ABAP and now being asked to decide if I want to be an IT Sys Ad (maintaining server systems, and making internal applications) or keep up with my current ABAP programmer status. ABAP is the language used by SAP for programming.

Do you have a similar story? If so, I need your advice. I have less than 3 years experience in working in a corporate environment and people think sys admin is better because that's my background, but that is not really my experience yet.

In short, I will be covering new ground / territory when I switch to sys admin work. At first I did not like ABAP because it seemed weird and different from what I was used to doing. After a while sap scripts is actually easy, and I think given time, I can learn to become more proficient at writing ABAP code.

It is not also a matter of career - high paying or what not, but as a person who likes to make small web applications and hate complicated SQL queries.

Basically, need advise if anyone has gone through the same dilemma.

asked May 14 '10 at 08:15

whatever
1.1k●1●3●29

2 Answers:

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What kind of internal applications will you be doing as an IT sys ad in your company? If they will be small web apps then that sounds like a perfect fit for your web development experience. However, you might want to check whether you'll be maintaining critical server systems because that kind of support will probably require you to be up and about (almost) 24/7.

Regarding the complicated SQL queries, sooner or later you might have to deal with that as a developer. So I don't think it's appropriate to base your decision on that issue. Besides, there's always NP to help you with this kind of problems. :)

I'm biased against ABAP. I don't usually like to work in technology which I will have very little use outside of a specific company or domain. It somehow limits the work choices that you have in the future. But if you think that's something that you might enjoy doing for the rest of your life, or if you will be working for a company which will be having a major positive contribution to our society then feel free to go that route. ;)

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answered May 16 '10 at 00:40

paul_sns
1.7k●1●16

hey thanks. although its higher paying, okay lang. i chose web / sys admin. sounds like an exciting field, but it seems i'll have to learn stuff by myself :) ty!

(May 17 '10 at 09:18) whatever

Yey! All the best... See you around I guess!

(May 21 '10 at 04:03) paul_sns

My advise would be to go where you feel you'll be happier. Doing something that makes you happy means an increase in productivity. As you mentioned, being an ABAP programmer does have it's perks -- it's a specialized skill -- meaning higher pay. But since SAP is a very, very proprietary system, that makes it very limiting. On the other hand, being a sys ad will most likely expose you to different systems. Systems which, if not exactly the same, will have similarities in between businesses. So your room for discovering new technology is bigger.

I am currently working as an ABAP programming, 5 years na, and now my preference has turned to web development. But I have no experience on the latter so it's going to be hard to switch. I have nothing against SAP and ABAP, but as I said, it's very limiting i.e. programs I create in ABAP will only work for the SAP environment.

Bottomline is kung saan ka mas masaya (at productive), dun ka. Hehe.

link

answered May 21 '10 at 02:17

riclags
355●2●17

come to think of it, i am just getting used to the language of ABAP. but nonetheless, I'd be happy to show you around PHP/MySQL programming, if you need any help :)

(May 21 '10 at 13:44) whatever

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Asked: May 14 '10 at 08:15

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Last updated: May 21 '10 at 02:17

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